Elevated floors have been gaining widespread usage and prominence in view of the wide proliferation of computer installed and used in buildings. These elevated floors are sometimes called “computer floors”. Generally speaking such elevated floors are designed to be supported on pedestals at the corners of the elevated floors so as to present an access space between the elevated floor and the floor structure that can be used to run electrical cabling, computer lines, air conditioning or other heating systems.
The computer floors may be easily removed in a manner well known to those persons skilled in the art so as to permit individuals to run wires, heating or cooling equipment under the floor as described so as to accommodate changing needs in the building. Accordingly such elevated floors have gained prominence since it is much easier to install wiring, heating and cooling systems or the like under a floor rather than attempting to accommodate the changing needs by running said systems within the wall of a building.
Such floor panels generally comprise a base structure supported at its corners on pedestals and a floor covering laminated to the upper surface thereon to provide a finished exposed floor surface. Such floor surfaces may be carpeted or include a vinyl composite tile (VCT), conductive vinyl tile (CVT) or high-pressure laminate (HPL).
For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,491 teaches a floor panel for elevated floors in which a high-pressure laminate floor covering is laminated to the load surface of the panel base. The laminate is provided with a decorative exposed surface and an inner body portion rearwardly therefrom having a colour contrasting with the decorative exposed surface. A border is provided around the edge of the panel by cutting away the decorative surface to expose the contrasting inner body portion.
Moreover U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,559 relates to the bottom or lower sheet formed as a pan with side flanges bent upwardly. A solid core of plywood, composite board or other compression resistant material of a thickness designed for the intended load is glued or otherwise adhered to the inside bottom of the sheet and a flat upper sheet is adhered to the top of the core. Upper and lower sheets are preferably metal and a surface such as vinyl or asbestos tile is adhered to the top surface of the upper sheet. Flanges are bent upwardly to form sides of the panel leaving space between the core and the flanges. The flanges extend up and are preferably bent outwardly to terminate just short of the upper sheet. Within the opening between the top edges of the side flanges and the peripheries of the upper sheet a vinyl trim or other flexible member is wedged around the upper sides of the finished panel.
Moreover U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,818 teaches a floor tile for being removably applied over the floor panels of a raised access floor system. A tile has a generally square base portion with a generally planar top surface and a planar bottom surface, and features flanges that extend downwardly from each of the four corners of the base portion. A square of carpet is bonded to the top surface of the base portion. Opposing pairs of flanges are spaced apart such that a tile may be placed over a floor panel with inner surfaces of tile flanges lying closely adjacent downwardly extending edges of the floor panel to support the tile against lateral movement upon the panel.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,708 shows an elevated floor assembly comprising a plurality of base panels each having an upper surface, a lower surface and a peripheral edge, each of said base panels including a base panel cladding strip received along said base panel edges, said base panel cladding strips each having a generally upwardly web extending approximately the thickness of said base panel edge, and a generally horizontal access panel engaging flange extending laterally and outwardly from the web, a plurality of access panels each having an upper surface, a lower surface and a peripheral edge; and a plurality of support legs detachably coupled to said base panels, said base panels and said access panels being positioned in alternating juxtaposition whereby said base panels are supported by said support legs and said access panels are supported by said base panel cladding strip flanges.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,930,277 and 4,901,490 illustrate other raised floor panels.
Furthermore U.S. Pat. No. 4,689,870 relates to a square rectangular floor panel which includes a honeycomb assembly enclosed within two metal cover sheets.
Yet another arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,998 which teaches a floor panel for use in elevated floor assemblies which includes a core member, top sheet and a bottom sheet positioned on opposite sides of the core member and a flexible edge member operatively positioned between the top and bottom sheets.
Finally U.S. Pat. No. 4,142,341 relates to a square panel comprising an upper flat sheet load receiving plate and a lower sheet plate having peripheral bent portions resting on pedestals and margin portions which overlap the marginal portions of the plate. An edge strip is mounted on the composite flange. The strip may be fabricated of a vinyl or other extruded plastic material and has an upper flange and a lower flange. A wear surface covering layer is mounted on load receiving plate and its upper surface is flush with the upper surface of edge strip flange.
These and other raised floor systems present relatively complicated structures having limited use. For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,491 provides a border which is cut away from the decorative surface so as to expose the contrasting inner body portion comprising of layers of paper. However over time moisture and other environmental elements find their way into the border and particularly the layers of paper and cause the border as well as the raised floor to deteriorate necessitating replacement thereof. Furthermore the cutting action in U.S. Pat. No. 4,625,491 adds materially to the cost of production.
It is an object of this invention to provide an improved raised floor structure which is relatively simple to produce having greater wear characteristics.